In the midst of the sweep of history, it’s easy to anticipate that the events of twenty-five years ago might soon be lost to memory. We might forget why any of it mattered. In such conditions, it’s the responsibility of those of us who, among other things, write for the record, to use the occasion of a significant anniversary to ensure there are accounts of what happened, what we saw, and what we think it meant.(from Post-Communist Stories)

Twenty-five years after the Berlin Wall was pulled down by Berliners fed up with the division of their city, Stan Persky returns to Eastern Europe. In essays informative and insightful, he illuminates what some consider the final act the Second World War: the end of the occupation by the Soviets of Germany, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and the Baltic nations.